The prioritization of natural-historical based ecotourism strategies with multiple-criteria decision analysis in ancient UNESCO city: Iznik-Bursa case

Abstract

Ecotourism contains the integration from ecological integrity and economic benefits to environmental and historically sensitive areas. One of the major keys of ecotourism-planning strategies is to ensure the sustainability of unique natural and cultural resources by a balance strategy between protection and use. It causes both the increase of the ecotourism awareness of local people and visitors and the decrease of the environmental problems and visitor pressures on the landscape resources of potential ecotourism areas. For this reason, the study presents the example of Iznik which is an ancient Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman city of Nicaea with its lake, historical walls and gates, churches and early-period mosques, ceramic tiles, and agricultural activities on the southeast of Marmara Region, Turkey. It has been declared to have a different protected area status. However, the number of unsuitable management and uncontrolled economic activities has caused damage to sensitive landscape values. The aim of this research is to define ecotourism criteria for Iznik and it offers ecotourism strategies for the sustainability of sensitive landscape areas. Fieldwork, field observation, interviews and survey study with integrated multiple-criteria decision analysis and strengths-weakness-opportunities-threats (SWOT) analysis conducted with locals, tourists and experts were performed for this purpose. According to the results, among the 4 main and 15 sub-criteria of ecotourism to be in UNESCO Tentative List, the opportunity for ecotourism-planning strategy was found as the highest priority ranking. This research proposes a framework by using a priority-ranking method for the development of ecotourism strategies in the town.